18 September 2013
5. In the 1911 case Flint v. Stone Tray Co. the court held that corporate income tax (which was passed in a law in 1909) was constitutional because it was a special form of excise tax on the privilege of operating in the corporate form, using income as its base, rather than a direct income tax.
9. A tax treaty is an agreement negotiated between countries concerning the treatment of entities subject to tax in both countries. The main purpose of these treaties (often known as tax conventions) is to eliminate the “double taxation” that the taxpayer would face if his or her earnings were subject to taxation in both countries. The treaties cover things from how to compute taxable income in the host country to what tax disclosures must be made by the visitor.
16. A committee report explains the elements of the proposed changes brought forth by Congress and the reasons for each of the proposals. These reports are an important tool for tax researchers because in many situations, the tax law is unclear or recent legislation has been passed and the researcher needs insight to specific phrases or statutes.
17. Every bill that is passed by Congress is assigned a public law number. Thus, Committee Reports generally are referred to by public law number. In the example, P.L. 100-203 translates to Congress passing this public law as the two-hundred and third bill in the one-hundredth session of Congress.
18. When a new tax law is passed, the pertinent Committee Reports are released in the IRS’s weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin. This would be a good place for a tax researcher to look when conducting research. A researcher might also look for these reports and other legislative items on online tax service websites that one can subscribe to. These include RIA checkpoint, CCH, and WestlawNext.
50. P.L. 108-27 is officially called the “Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.” I found my answer on the US Government